In light of the call for a general strike by @OccupyOakland, the first in the United States of America since 1946, I find it imperative that those unfamiliar with the makeup of a general strike read the summary of a speech delivered by William “Big Bill” Dudley Haywood in New York City on March 16, 1911;

A general strike may possibly “completely interrupt production in the whole country, and stop communication and consumption for the ruling classes, and that for a time long enough to totally disorganize the capitalistic society; so that after the complete annihilation of the old system, the working people can take possession through its labor unions of all the means of production.”

From the Middle East to the streets of London and cities across the US there is a discontent with the status quo. Whether it is with the iron grip of entrenched governments or the widening economic divide between the rich and those struggling to get by. But where are those so hungry for change heading? How profound is their long-term vision to transform society?

Rights activists and protesters paraded through Cairo’s streets on Friday bearing the coffin of a young man they said had been tortured to death in a maximum security prison, calling his treatment evidence that abuses are continuing at the hands of security forces more than nine months after Egypt’s revolution.

Essam Atta, 24, was killed Thursday after he was caught with a cellphone, relatives said. They said one of his cellmates had told them guards inserted hoses into Atta’s mouth and anus and forced in water and soap, causing vomiting and bleeding.

What if rising sea levels are yet another measure of inequality? What if the degradation of our planet’s life-support systems — its atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere — goes hand in hand with the accumulation of wealth, power, and control by that corrupt and greedy 1% we are hearing about from Zuccotti Park? What if the assault on America’s middle class and the assault on the environment are one and the same?

It’s not hard for me to understand how environmental quality and economic inequality came to be joined at the hip. In all my years as a grassroots organizer dealing with the tragic impact of degraded environments on public health, it was always the same:someone got rich and someone got sick.

After a year and a half of desperate rescue negotiations and bailout tranches doled out by the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, the intractable and increasingly ineffective austerity measures imposed by the “troika” (three) on Greece’s socialist government, have been met with unrelenting protests.